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Ringbrothers drops more hints about its wild SEMA creations

Ringbrothers isn't finished teasing its SEMA creations. First we got a sliver of rear quarter on a 1969 Chevrolet Camaro that revealed a bundle of carbon fiber and SEMA-obligatory deep-dish wheels. The Wisconsin tuner's now announced its litter of cars headed to the show and a few specs, along with two shadowy drawings. The Camaro, christened with the name Valkyrja and a two-tone paint job, gets stretched in two directions with severe fender flares to widen the body and an extended wheelbase. We're not sure what's happening with the Camaro's snout in the drawing, but under that bulging hood we'll find a 416-cubic-inch LS V8 from Wegner Motorsports. Wegner built the 416-cu-in supercharged LS3 V8 that powered Ringbrothers' 1,000-hp G-Code Camaro in 2016.  The second member of the gang is a 1969 Ford Mustang Mach 1 dubbed Unkl. The exterior begs for attention with a deep blue sea paint job, deep front chin spoiler, bulging hood, yellow brake calipers, and what looks like a racing number inside a roundel on the doors. Unkl gets its motivation from a 520-cu-in Boss V8 built by Kaase Racing Engines, rumored to throw about 800 hp.    Finally, Ringbrothers is bringing its Cadillac Madam V for another Las Vegas go-round after giving the custom coupe some updates. The Madam V is a 1948 Cadillac Series 62 fastback coupe body placed atop an ATS-V chassis, first shown in 2016. The firm didn't elaborate on the changes, so all we can expect for now are the coupe's postwar good looks mixed with new-millennium engineering, and a 3.6-liter twin-turbo V6 with 464 hp under that exceptionally long hood.    For any in attendance at the show, the Valkyrja Camaro debuts at the BASF booth on Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2019 at 9:30 a.m., the Unkl Mustang gets revealed a couple hours later at the Flowmaster/Holley booth, and the Madam V Cadillac will be on display throughout the show at the Ringbrothers booth.

Ford decides C-Max shoppers not interested in fuel economy

If you say a car – the Ford C-Max Hybrid, for example – is "fun to drive," can anyone really come up with some empirical evidence against your claim? What about calling it "versatile"? We wonder if Ford has been thinking along these lines when it talks about the green little hatch. Ford is refocusing its sales strategy for the C-Max Hybrid after the model took a sales hit on both sides of the Atlantic recently, Automotive News reports. That sales dropoff may stem from the fact that Ford has had to revise its fuel-economy figures downward for the C-Max twice since last year, most recently in June. That made the company's once-proud fuel-economy comparisons with the Toyota Prius kind of pointless. Ford is going a different route, calling the model versatile (which, to be fair it was also doing a year ago), technologically advanced and fun to drive. Since the C-Max has about 50 more horsepower than the Prius, that last part may be true. Ford representatives didn't immediately respond to a request for comment from AutoblogGreen about the mpg-mention-free advertising direction, but we will update this post if we hear back. Sales of the C-Max Hybrid have suffered in the US. Through September, Ford sold 15,245 C-Max Hybrids, down 36 percent from last year. We shall see if a new focus away from the car's lowered mpg numbers helps. At least Ford can be pleased with sales of the C-Max Energi Plug-in Hybrid, which are up 51 percent compared to 2013.

Ford to ramp up Lincoln rollout in China in bid to catch rivals

DETROIT/BEIJING — Ford Motor Co's premium Lincoln brand plans to build as many as five new vehicles in China by 2022, according to two U.S. sources, in a move to expand sales in the world's largest vehicle market that would also blunt the impact of trade U.S.-China trade spats. Ford has said it plans to build an all-new sport utility vehicle in China by the end of 2019, however the company has not detailed future production plans for the Lincoln brand in China beyond that. "Our localization plans to support the China market are on track and will serve to further drive Lincoln's growth in China," Lincoln spokeswoman Angie Kozleski said. "Beyond that, it would be premature to discuss our future product and production plans or timing." Sources familiar with Ford's production plans told Reuters the automaker now expects to begin building the new Lincoln Aviator in China in late 2019 or early 2020, along with replacements for the MKC compact crossover and the MKZ midsize sedan, followed in 2021 by the all-new Nautilus, which replaces the Lincoln MKX crossover. A fifth model, a small coupe-like crossover, is tentatively slated for production in China in 2022, the sources said. Ford has much to lose if the war of words over trade between China and U.S. President Donald Trump escalates into a full-blown tariff war. Last year, it shipped about 80,000 vehicles to China from North America, more than half of them Lincolns to support the brand's growth. All Lincoln vehicles that Ford now sells in China are brought in from North America. Even if China does reduce its 25 percent tariff on imported vehicles - as Chinese President Xi Jinping promised on Tuesday - it is not clear that would mean a big, long-term increase in Fords and Lincolns made in U.S. factories heading to Chinese showrooms. Ford is pursuing long-range plans to build more vehicles in China to serve a market that is now roughly 60 percent larger than the U.S. market, and projected to keep growing. But it is playing catch up to hometown rival General Motors Co and German luxury brands including Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz, which have invested heavily in Chinese production in recent years as a form of insurance against trade, political and currency gyrations and to lower price points for their premium cars.